Creator /
Richard Pryor

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There are many different kinds of comedians: the observational humorist, the impressionist, the character creator, the physical comedian, the self-deprecator, and the dirty-joke teller. What made Richard Pryor so brilliant is he was able to incorporate all these styles at once.

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Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor (December 1, 1940 — December 10, 2005) is often cited as one of the greatest stand-up comedians. And just for once, they might actually be onto something there. His act influenced (and continues to influence) comedians varying from Eddie Murphy to Bill Hicks to Eddie Izzard.

He started out as a fairly non-controversial figure, influenced more by Bill Cosby than Lenny Bruce, and generally peddled his safe observational material to predominantly white audiences. It wasn't until an "epiphany" during a performance in Las Vegas in 1967 — where he exclaimed "What the fuck am I doing here?!" over the microphone, before walking off the stage — that he would begin to develop his own profane, raw, and increasingly confessional style of comedy.

Although he took pot shots at a variety of targets, it's arguable that his most hilarious and biting material concerned his own life. Whether it was shooting up his own car with a magnum, his drug addictions, his childhood, or his health problems, Pryor would bare his private life in front of his audience in a way that even his most devoted followers could rarely come close to. His most notable routine concerned nearly accidentally burning himself to death in 1980 while freebasing cocaine, documented on his 1982 album Live At The Sunset Strip, and also in the 1984 film Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, a semi-autobiographic drama Pryor wrote and directed. (Seriously, can you even picture Eddie Murphy trying to laugh off his "Good Samaritan" incident with a transvestite prostitute in his stand-up?)

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Despite the controversies over his lifestyle and material (in 1974, he was replaced by Cleavon Little Jr., for the role of Bart in Blazing Saddles, because Warner Bros. deemed him uninsurable due to his drug habits; In 1977, a variety show created by Pryor on NBC only lasted 4 episodes note but was notable for a cast that included Robin Williams, Paul Mooney, and Sandra Bernhard ) Pryor eventually found a degree of mainstream success, most notably in two films (Silver Streak and Stir Crazy) where he was paired with Gene Wildernote two later films with Wilder — See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Another You — were less well-received., and in Superman III. He largely retired from the public eye after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, but made occasional posts online, and even made an appearance in the David Lynch film Lost Highway. In 1998, he became the first recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

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He died in 2005 following a heart attack. In 2008, in a poll taken from nearly 5000 of his fellow stand-up comedians, he was voted the funniest stand-up comedian of all time, narrowly beating out his long-time friend, George Carlin, for the title.note Lenny Bruce, coincidentally, came in third.

Man on Fire: He lit himself on fire inadvertently when he was freebasing. He was reported to run a route described as "being a long distance in a car". He later admitted in his autobiography that he had done it on purpose in a drug haze.

"When you're on fire and running down the street, people will get out of your way. Except for one old drunk, going, (pantomiming holding a cigarette) 'Hey, buddy? Can I get a light?'"

"'Do you know what this is?' (lights a match) 'It's Richard Pryor, running down the street.'"

N-Word Privileges: He originally used it, even releasing albums called That Nigger's Crazy and Bicentennial Nigger. Averted following a visit to Africa, where he resolved to stop using the word in his routine. (His love of the word "motherfucker", however, remained undiminished.)

The Prima Donna: He developed a reputation for being demanding and disrespectful on film sets, and for making selfish and difficult requests. In his autobiography Kiss Me Like a Stranger, Gene Wilder says that Pryor was frequently late to the set during filming of Stir Crazy, and that he demanded, among other things, a helicopter to fly him to and from the set because he was the star. Pryor was also accused of using allegations of on-set racism to force the hand of film producers into giving him more money:

One day during our lunch hour in the last week of filming, the craft service man handed out slices of watermelon to each of us. Richard, the whole camera crew, and I sat together in a big sound studio eating a number of watermelon slices, talking and joking. As a gag, some members of the crew used a piece of watermelon as a Frisbee and tossed it back and forth to each other. One piece of watermelon landed at Richard's feet. He got up and went home. Filming stopped. The next day, Richard announced that he knew very well what the significance of watermelon was. He said that he was quitting show business and would not return to this film. The day after that, Richard walked in, all smiles. I wasn't privy to all the negotiations that went on between Columbia and Richard's lawyers, but the camera operator who had thrown that errant piece of watermelon had been fired that day. I assume now that Richard was using drugs during Stir Crazy.

Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While they didn't outright dislike each other, the chemistry he and Gene Wilder displayed onscreen did not translate off-screen due to their very different personalities. The filming of Stir Crazy, in particular, was a low point (as stated above).

"I'm gonna help you, boy. 'Cause I believe you got potential. You know what your problem is? You don't know how to deal with the white man! You got a white-man complex. I know how to deal with him. That's why I'm in the position I'm in today."

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